The original, hand-lettered bible, took 12 hours of work to complete a single page of text. This is a copy of that original, but each illustration required handwork to apply gold leaf.
Bill Bresler | hometownlife.com

Visitors to St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia may not realize they've walked right past a piece of religious and calligraphy history in the south lobby.

A section of a Saint John's Bible, which was handwritten and hand-drawn, is on display at the hospital until next June. While the book, which features the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, is a reproduction of the meticulous hand-written work of the Bible, all the gold leaf in the volume adorning icons and images was all hand-placed.

Dave Nantais, mission leader at the hospital, said having the volume on display goes toward the hospital's mission of healing both the body and the spirit.

"I think this is phenomenal. This is something that is unique. It's a way of reaching out to the community," he said. "It's the Word presented in a way for the 21st century.

"That's exciting that we can be part of that."

A project that began in the late 1990s, the Saint John's Bible was written over more than a decade and is boasted as the the first completely handwritten Bible since the printing press was invented more than 500 years ago.

There are 299 seven-volume sets worldwide, in addition to the original still housed in Minnesota at Saint John's University. The copy at St. Mary Mercy Hospital has images depicting the lineage of Jesus, the Nativity, the Transfiguration and several others.

The volume was revealed after a short prayer service Wednesday morning.

"At St. Mary Mercy, we seek to heal the whole person, which includes the body, mind and soul," Dave Spivey, president and CEO of St. Mary Mercy Livonia, said in a statement. "Through its beauty and art, the Saint John’s Bible will resonate with people of all faiths and will enhance the healing environment we've sought to create here within our hospital.”

The book, which took 12 hours to write per page, is written in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, a form that was accessible to both Catholics and Protestants.

"Even though this was commissioned by a Catholic university, they wanted it to appeal to as many folks as possible," Spivey said.

Pages are expected to be turned while the book is in its display case at noon each Wednesday, though docents could turn pages at other times of the week. More than 20 hospital staff members have been trained to properly handle the book and turn pages, Nantais said.

The volume is one of seven owned by the hospital's parent company, Trinity Health. Other volumes are on display at other hospitals owned by the Livonia-based system all across the country.

The Life of Paul.(Photo: submitted)

Nantais said he's received word from various organizations across the region interested in seeing the book, including a calligraphy organization in Birmingham that cannot wait to come out and visit.

"For them, the guy who did this is the LeBron James of calligraphy," he said. "They want to see it because they're over the moon about it."

The hospital also invites churches, youth groups and schools interested in visiting the book to contact Nantais at 734-655-1646.

Contact David Veselenak at dveselenak@hometownlife.com or 734-678-6728. Follow him on Twitter @davidveselenak.